Virtual screen bezel

• US 9,389,703 B1
• Filed: 06/23/2014
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Olsen, Erik Jacob, Rost, Robert Duane
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ritchie, Darlene M
• Application Number:
  US14/312,365
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1692 the I/O peripheral being a secondary touch screen used as control interface, e.g. virtual buttons or sliders
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

Approaches enable a display screen to be configured to display content and/or receive touch-based input based on a location of regions of the display screen. For example, the display screen can include a virtual bezel region that extends along, or proximate to, the edges of the display screen. The virtual bezel region can surround a display region that is configured to display image content. By default the virtual bezel region may be configured to display no content, or at least no active content, in order to approximate the appearance of a physical bezel. The virtual bezel can be configured to exhibit characteristics similar to that of the physical bezel. For example, the virtual bezel region can be configured to operate as a ‘dead zone’, where touch-based input is deactivated. The virtual bezel region can also be configured to display a portion of any content displayed in the display region.

Claims

1. A computing device, comprising:

a display screen;

a camera;

at least one processor; and

memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer device to;

acquire, using the camera, an image of a viewer of the computing device;

determine, by analyzing the image, a first location of the viewer with respect to the computing device;

display a first graphical representation of a content in a primary display region of the display screen, the first graphical representation being displayed to correspond to the first location of the viewer and having a first lateral offset and a first depth position relative to a surface of the display screen, a virtual bezel region surrounding the primary display region;

detect, using an orientation determining element of the computing device, a change in orientation of the computing device;

determine, based at least in part on the change in orientation, a second location of the viewer with respect to the computing device;

determine a second lateral offset for the content based at least in part upon the second location of the viewer relative to the computing device; and

display a second graphical representation of the content on the display screen, wherein at least a portion of the content is shifted from a first lateral position to a second lateral position by an amount equal to a difference between the first lateral offset and the second lateral offset, the portion of the content being displayed on the virtual bezel region at least at the first depth position.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed to determine the first location of the viewer, further enable the computing device to:

locate a representation of the viewer in the image captured by the camera; and

determine the first location based at least in part upon a position of the representation of the viewer in the image, an angular field of view of the camera, and a zoom level at which the image is acquired.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed to display the second graphical representation of the content, further enable the computing device to:

utilize a three-dimensional representation of the content, at least a portion of the three-dimensional representation being rendered in the virtual bezel region.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed to render the second graphical representation of the content for display, further enable the computing device to:

update at least one of a rendering or a shadowing of a three-dimensional representation of the content based at least in part upon at least one of a change in a relative viewpoint, a change in an orientation, or a change in a relative location of at least one virtual light source; and

display at least a portion of the three-dimensional representation of the content in the virtual bezel region.

5. A computer implemented method, comprising:

displaying content that includes a plurality of graphical elements on a primary display region of a display screen of a computing device, a bezel region configured to surround the primary display region, the bezel region configured to display one of additional content or at least a portion of the content displayed on the primary display region;

detecting a presentation event;

assigning a first graphical element of the plurality of graphical elements to a first depth position;

assigning a second graphical element of the plurality of graphical elements to a second depth position, the first depth position being different from the second depth position;

detecting, in response to the presentation event using an orientation determining element of the computing device, a change in orientation of the computing device; and

displaying one of the first graphical element or the second graphical element in the bezel region based at least in part upon the first depth position for the first graphical element, the second depth position for the second graphical element, and a location of a viewer relative to the computing device.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the presentation event includes at least one of a change in orientation of the computing device, an operating system event, or an application event, the operating system event and the application event causing content to be displayed in the bezel region.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the content includes a plurality of graphical elements, and wherein displaying the content further includes:

rendering at least a portion of the plurality of graphical elements to appear closer to a viewer of the display screen relative to at least one graphical element of the plurality of graphical elements.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the presentation event corresponds to a notification, and wherein the method further includes:

displaying at least one of a notification, a user-selectable element, or advertisement in the bezel region.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein touched-input is deactivated for the bezel region, and wherein touch-based input is active for at least a portion of the primary display region.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 5, further including:

adjusting an appearance of at least a portion of the content according to the location of the viewer or in response to the presentation event,

wherein adjusting the appearance of the at least a portion of the content includes adjusting at least one of a size, shape, color, shading, or blur of the content according to at least one of the location of the viewer or the presentation event, the adjusting causing the at least a portion of the content to be displayed in the bezel region.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein displaying the content includes displaying a three-dimensional representation of at least a portion of the content, the method further comprising:

displaying a portion of the three-dimensional representation of the content in the bezel region.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the presentation event corresponds to a notification event configured to cause a notification to be displayed on the display screen, the method further comprising:

displaying the notification in the bezel region, the notification corresponding to at least one an email notification, an text message notification, a phone call notification, or an advertisement.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein displaying the portion of the content includes displaying at least one of first shadowing in the bezel region based at least in part upon an intersection of the content and light from at least one light source near the computing device, or second shadowing in the primary display region based at least in part upon an intersection of a portion of the bezel region and light from at least one light source,

wherein the at least one light source includes at least one of a virtual light source or a physical light.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the content includes a plurality of graphical elements, and wherein displaying the portion of the content further includes:

detecting, using an orientation determining element of the computing device, a change in orientation of the computing device; and

adjusting a scale and a translation for a respective graphical element of the plurality of graphical elements based at least in part on the change in orientation of the computing device and a depth position of each graphical element of the plurality of graphical elements relative to the display screen.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting a change in orientation of the computing device;

shifting from a first lateral position to a second lateral position at least a portion of the plurality of graphical elements based at least in part on the change in orientation of the computing device; and

displaying the portion of the plurality of graphical elements in the bezel region.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to:

determine a bezel region on a display screen of a computing device, a primary display region being surrounded by the bezel region;

display content that includes a plurality of graphical elements on the primary display region, the bezel region configured to display one of additional content or at least a portion of the content displayed on the primary display region;

detect a presentation event;

assign a first graphical element of the plurality of graphical elements to a first depth position;

assign a second graphical element of the plurality of graphical elements to a second depth position, the first depth position being different from the second depth position;

detect, in response to the presentation event using an orientation determining element of the computing device, a change in orientation of the computing device; and

display one of the first graphical element or the second graphical element in the bezel region based at least in part upon the first depth position for the first graphical element, the second depth position for the second graphical element, and a location of a viewer relative to the computing device.

17. The computing device of claim 16, the instructions further being configured to cause the computing system to:

activate touch-based input on the bezel region;

detect a touch-based input selection on the bezel region; and

cause the computing device to perform at least one operation.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the additional content includes at least one of a notification, a user-selectable element, or advertisement the instructions further being configured to cause the computing system to:

display at least one of the notification, the user-selectable element, or an advertisement on the bezel region when the display screen is in one of a powered off state or lower powered state.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the bezel region of the display screen extends along one or more edges of the display screen to approximate an appearance of a physical bezel of the computing device.